Fast food worker fired after berating deaf customer for not using drive-thru speaker

Updated: Wed 12:33 AM, Sep 11, 2019

CAMPBELL, Calif. (KGO/CNN) - A deaf woman in California is demanding that Jack in the Box train its employees, including the CEO, to understand deaf culture after she says she was discriminated against in the drive-thru.

ReVae Arnaud-Jensen says she was discriminated against because she is deaf and wanted to order at the Jack in the Box pickup window, instead of the drive-thru speaker. (Source: KGO/CNN)

ReVae Arnaud-Jensen, a single mother of three, visited a Jack in the Box location in Campbell, Calif., in the early morning of Aug. 31. She and her son were trying to order at the drive-thru, but because Arnaud-Jensen is deaf, she cannot use the speaker.

However, she can read lips and intended to order at the pickup window.

When she drove to the window to explain, Arnaud-Jensen says the man behind the counter refused her service. In addition, video of the incident shows the worker yelling at and even mocking her.

Arnaud-Jensen stayed at the location for two hours and never got her order. She says this kind of discrimination happens to her almost every day.

"I was just fed up, the constant, you know, telling us to go, when it should be equal access,” she said. “This needs to stop. It’s very common everywhere. It needs to stop. This is 2019. I fight for equal access. And I feel awful. I feel like it was my fault.”

Arnaud-Jensen says she spoke to the store manager and was told the employee was fired. Even so, she intends to stand her ground and pursue legal action.

"Things done to us, not OK. I will stand and fight for that, for everyone in the community. It’s for you guys, the community, not me but for them, so there will be no more suffering for the deaf community,” she said.

Arnaud-Jensen says she is demanding, at the very least, that Jack in the Box train its employees, including the CEO, to understand deaf culture. She hopes what happened to her never happens again.

Jack in the Box addressed the incident in a statement.

“We do not tolerate the mistreatment of any customers and expect employees to follow all training procedures, be respectful, courteous and accommodating to all guests,” it read in part.

There are approximately 40 million people who are deaf or hard of hearing in the United States.

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